Author Archive for Michael Law

Life as a Paralegal: Major Multi-Tasking

Published
by
Michael Law
on July 1, 2008
in Law Jobs and Paralegals
. 0 Comments

Paralegals may not be giving dramatic arguments in the courtroom before judge and jury. They may not have the ultimate responsibility in the legal work they are preparing. But don’t discount the impact paralegals have on the legal process!

If you look at all the tasks that paralegals are charged with doing, you definitely realize that paralegals are essential to the legal process, almost to the level of the work that the attorney is doing.

The Paralegal Workload

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Most of the work paralegals do is behind-the-scenes though, which is why they rarely get the glory. Paralegals often perform legal tasks such as researching and investigating facts, drafting pleadings, drafting motions, preparing legal documents, obtaining affidavits, assisting lawyers during the trial in the courtroom and ensuring all the information necessary is considered by the legal team.

It’s a total mulitasking career – as a paralegal you have to be ready to juggle many different to-do lists all at once. If you’re looking into becoming a paralegal, be ready to sort through tons of stacks of legal documents in your research. Yes, the work can be tedious. Yes, the work can be hectic. But if you’re looking to to study to become a paralegal, you should be an excellent multi-tasker and you should actually enjoy having multiple tasks needed to be done all around the same time. You cannot get overwhelmed! Time management is key for the paralegal.

With Experience Comes Responsibility

Even though I’ve probably scared some of you aspiring paralegals – don’t get too stressed out. As you get more and more experience in your field, you’ll get the opportunity to work with more varied tasks that have more responsibility and more weight in the legal community.

“New paralegals need to be patient and realize even small and seemingly routine tasks are invaluable learning processes,” says Janet Sullivan, senior paraprofessional manager with Reed Smith LLP in Philadelphia and a paralegal for 29 years. “Be flexible and willing to gain exposure to many areas and tasks until you get a good feel for the profession.”

Even though you might think that sifting through the loads of legal paperwork may be extremely boring and mundane, you can actually learn heaps from getting deep into this clerical side of paralegal work.

“Common mistakes that I have seen, especially from recent college grads, is a reluctance to master the more clerical work that may be associated with the position,” says Katherine M. Kerr, director of paralegal and library services at Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, an intellectual property law firm in Boston. “Young paralegals often want to move on to more complex work too quickly without truly understanding the basics.

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Law Student Leaves Gang Life For School Life

Published
by
Michael Law
on June 16, 2008
in Law Students
. 0 Comments

There are many stories of people who don’t really go to school, and yet come out on top of the world with successfully-built empires that conquering the height of business. A perfect example would be Microsoft’s Bill Gates. But for an ordinary person, jumping from one level of success to the next may seem like an impossible feat. But if you arm yourself with determination, perseverance and persistence, the impossible might just come along, with a little bit of surprise and excitement edged into it.

Take the case of twenty-seven year old Jose Orozco, who was a bumbling high school dropout and yet, still excelled in law school. As of the present, he is the incoming president of the Student Bar Association at the California Western School of Law in San Diego and is planning to specialize in employment law after graduation. Talk about a rough change – he went from an all-out gang member hustling on the streets to a head in the books law student.

From Gang Life to Law Life

Image of Former Gang Member & Current Law Student Jose Orozco

He began his work life as a cashier at a Jack-in-the-Box fast-food joint then began his move up the fast-food ladder by getting promoted to shift leader in a very short period of time. This immediate jump was a surprise for him – especially with his life still entwined in the streets of Logan Heights and his gang life affiliations. But there was one person who instantly saw the potential in Orozco – former police office Kevin LaChapelle, who always had the time to eat in the restaurant where Jose Orozco worked. LaChapelle served as Jose Orozco’s mentor in the troubled times of the youth and he aided the young Orozco into getting his life on the right track.

LaChapelle said that there was something different about the young man, and he could feel that Jose really wanted to change the way he was living his life. When he used to deal with gang member, LaChapelle would have to almost force these gang members to change – not with Orozco though, he already had the desire to change his life from the beginning.

For Orozco, becoming a lawyer wasn’t actually what he wanted to do in the first place when he first started working. He had already become a gang member and he was pretty comfortable living the “thug life”. But from the moment he started working as a cashier at the fast food place, he didn’t have as much time to join in the gang activities. Slowly, all his co-gang members began to disappear. Orozco added that each time he would want to get with his former buddies, they were always involved with something – usually in legal trouble.

The Journey to Law School

Early life for Orozco wasn’t always a bed of roses. In fact, he was orphaned at the age of thirteen – when his mother died of skin cancer and his father died of prostrate cancer. His home kept changing for about a year – from his grandmother’s place in Mexico to his stepsister’s place in National City. Finally, he decided to just stay with his aunt in Sherman Heights, where he spent his teenage years.

But even with such a tough background, Jose Orozco is determined to make something out of his future and he’s on his way to legal success.

Jose Orozco currently speaks to young students at Promise Charter School about working towards a brighter future and the possibilities that are out there for positive change. In mid-February 2008, Orozco won 2nd place in the Lynch Appellate Competition. He has been elected president of the Student Bar Association for the 2008-2009 academic year. Orozco has also won the Brigadier General John R. DeBarr Award in March 2008, which recognizes a student’s commitment to professional integrity and their great promise to become a creative problem solver for future clients.  Orozco will graduate from California Western School of Law in 2009. He intends to practice employment law as a way to help workers who are like he once was: without a voice.

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Beauty and the Beast: How Attractiveness Affects Your Life

Published
by
Michael Law
on May 31, 2008
in Lawyers
. 1 Comment

It’s been a long time since discrimination and contempt for others was a common out-in-the open occurrence in the society. These days, most people seem to have become more civil when it comes to handling their reservations against others who do not seem to fit their standards. But then again, it sometimes seems like discrimination appears to be an almost central part of the world existence. Taking this abstract concept to a more concrete example, let’s take the ever-present comparison done between who society considers “beautiful” and “ugly”. This is the question we’re going to explore - is it indeed legal to discriminate against those that we consider “ugly”? Are one’s physical features the basis of societal acceptance?

A Real Life Scenario

Beauty Salon Neon Sign | Night Time Background

Imagine that you are the boss of a big corporate firm. Naturally, applicants for an advertised position come and go. They may be coming in by appointment or as walk-in applicants. Now, for a job position that requires a female, you finally come to the point of limiting your final choice into two candidates. The thing is, one of which you find to be a beautiful woman while the other is not. As you take a look at their resumes, you find both of theirs equally impressive. There is no question as to their potential ability in handling the. They give you accurate answers during the course of the interview. Confidence and self-esteem in their abilities is equally high for both. But then again, the task requires dealing with lots of people face-to-face. The bottom line is - which of these two applicants would you hire? Or take this instance. You are currently looking for a hotel manager. Your clientele attracts wealthy foreigners and a-list celebrities. Are you willing to assign someone in the front line who doesn’t exude a pleasing appearance but may be perfectly suitable for the task?

The question remains, is beauty truly an important requirement to land a job? Why do these job applicants bother to dress up and apply makeup on their faces if appearance isn’t an issue? University professors often inculcate in the minds of their students the fact that applying and accepting your first job in your chosen career is the start of your professional life. Applicants sell their skills. Their resumes must be grammatically correct, legibly written, and impressive since it is their passport to obtaining the dream job that will define their future.

The Comparison: “Beauty and the Beast”

Hottie & the Nottie Movie Poster | Crop Image

So is it morally right to choose the beautiful over the ugly? Is it not impolite to include the words “with pleasing appearance” in bold letters among the number of qualification requirements in a job post? Well again, maybe for those less ethically inclined, this can be acceptable. If all that influences an interviewer’s choice of candidate for the job is the applicant’s beauty, then most likely, all you’ll see in these offices are handsome men and beautiful women who appear to be in a beauty pageant. Where does this leave the not so physically blessed people? Are they doomed to become vendors in the subway alleys? How about the issue of ability - do people assume beautiful people automatically are smarter than their less physically attractive counterparts?

Practically speaking, not all careers require an exceptional physical appearance. However, may beauty be a tool in creating an impressive business presentation?

As Shown by Leading Studies

Scientist looking into microscope, trying to find the origin of beauty.

Dr. Daniel S. Hamermesh spearheaded an infamous survey in Canada and the United States which reported that less attractive people earned less while the more attractive people earned more. In line with the legal career and profession, the private practicing lawyers are those who are generally considered good-looking while their opposites are settled in the government offices. He found that better-looking attorneys who graduated in the 1970s earned more after 5 years of practice than their worse- looking classmates, other things equal, an effect that grew even larger by the fifteenth year of practice. Male attorneys’ probability of attaining an early partnership also rises with their handsomeness. To wrap it up, his study proved the unfairness in the treatment of both sides. The “beautiful people” earned higher revenues compared to the non-beautiful. And one more thing, most of the elected officials were rated to be attractive as well! (Reference: “Beauty, Productivity, And Discrimination: Lawyers’ Looks And Lucre,” Journal of Labor Economics, 1998, v16(1,Jan), 172-201.)

Is this supposed to be the case? Is this meant to add insult to the injury of ugliness? Physically, economically, politically, and emotionally, the gains seem to be geared more towards the beautiful. Does it follow that beauty constitutes good character as well?

When Beauty is Favored

True to what has been said, reality simply sinks in that being beautiful is greatly favored. People tend to choose beautiful friends, beautiful lovers, and beautiful employees. One’s physical attraction plays a major role in the acceptance that he or she will find in their respective environments - whether in their professional lives or personal lives.

Does all of this mean that the non-beautiful person is doomed?

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